“I’m going to say this and I’m probably going to get in trouble because I work for Turner and March Madness and CBS,” Barkley said Thursday on ESPN’s “Get Up.”

"I think Turner Sports and CBS got to close down March Madness, man, because you can’t have these players, even if there’s no fans in the stadium, you can’t have these players breathing on each other for two weeks. Even if they’re in a hotel, they’re going to be in different cities around the country.

“And I hate to say it. Like I said, I probably shouldn’t say it because I work for CBS, I think we’re probably going to have to shut down March Madness until we know more.”

Charles Barkley on ‘Get Up’: ‘I think we’re going to have to shut down March Madness until we know more’ pic.twitter.com/3Ndvo7ST1E

Barkley pointed out that Gobert had played in multiple states in recent days.

Of the college players, he said, “I know the kids want to play. ... These kids are sweating, breathing, leaning on each other, I mean, that’s crazy. And then even if you lose, you go back home and you don’t know if you’ve got the virus for a week or two. But the problem’s going to be, we paid a billion dollars for March Madness. I think the right thing to do is for us to honor our contract. But listen, if they play these games it’s really just about they want that billion-dollar check, let’s be realistic.

“I think that we gotta say, ‘hey, you know what, everybody’s made a lot of money. We’re going to have to bite the bullet. We’re going to have to bite the bullet and say these kids have been great for us forever, let’s pay the NCAA their billion dollars because that’s what we pay for March Madness.’ ... But we can’t have these kids out there running and breathing on each other for three weeks.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are going to cancel the NCAA Tournament and all college basketball conference tournaments will cease,” ESPN’s Sean Farnham said on SportsCenter.

“I just don’t see the value or the risk in putting these student-athletes in the position— even without fans — that it benefits them at all, at any kind of level. If the professionals are shutting things down, the amateurs certainly shouldn’t be put in that same situation. ... The risk is far too high right now, and it’s just not worth it.”

“I just don’t see a path that we’re going to have a Selection Show on Sunday,” Farnham also said.